Red hatters plot a new future for Fedora

Members of the open-source Fedora Linux Project are plotting a different path for the operating system. The plan is for the distribution to evolve from a general-purpose open-source operating system to a new model with core functionality and then separate specific builds for different use cases.

The move comes from the Flock conference which is also a move away from FUDcon (Fedora Users and Developer) conference that Fedora has had for the past eight years. The feeling is that FUDcon events were typically loaded with talks about things that Fedora was already doing, rather than looking forward at the strategic future of the project.

Fedora developer Matthew Miller made a call to rearchitect the Fedora Linux distribution so that it became more agile. The idea is to make Fedora modular enough to fit into different environments. Miller's proposal is to have a series of Rings. Ring One provides the base level of core functionality and provides the foundation on which other levels can be built. Ring Two functionality would be driven by Fedora's Special Interest Groups (SIGs) that will be enabled to add and build the functionality that is required for their specific use cases.

The idea is that the core of Fedora will be closely vetted. The most recent Fedora 19 release, code-named Schrödinger's Cat, appeared potentially dead and alive in July. Fedora 20 is currently in development and it is not clear if any of the changes from Flock will be used.